Curatorial Team at work in the Carey Powell room.
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The Museum’s Collection.
Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre has a collection of artefacts that have been donated and sourced over the years since the centre opened in 1994. Its two largest artefacts are the Dakota C47A KG651 and an AEC Matador Coles Crane. The Dakota is housed in its own hangar and visitors can sit in the cockpit and learn about the role of this aircraft, KG651 and the story of Dakotas that operated at RAF Metheringham. The Coles Crane is being restored and not currently available to view, but it is due to be located in a new space in a Romney shed (large Nissen hut type building). See more information HERE. The museum’s main collection of smaller items, over 2800 in total, relate primarily to 106 Squadron who were based at RAF Metheringham from 1943 to 1946. We have a mix of ephemera in the collection such as logbooks, medals and correspondence, both personal and official. We also have a selection of uniforms and clothing, personal effects of the crews, maps (both paper and silk), a huge collection of photographs and small parts of aircraft mainly from Lancaster Bombers. Additionally, we have a small collection of framed paintings and prints. We try to display as much of the collection as possible but not everything can be out due to the environmental conditions of the wartime buildings. We do try to change some of displays around the museum rooms each year. |
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The history of the collection.
From its beginning MAVC has had a collection of artefacts with the founders Peter and Zena Scoley caring for the objects from day one. They were helped over the years by researchers, curators and volunteers, including Des Richards (106 Squadron Association) and, at the time, local volunteers Hazel and Fred Ambridge. Their legacy lives on today with a small team of regular volunteers who spend only around six hours a week onsite all through the year, caring for these items in store and preparing some for display. We also have a Curator and a Collections Manager, and all roles are done in our spare time. Our team of volunteers are trained to carry out a range of activities. This includes accounting for (accessioning) each item that is donated, photographing them, condition checking, doing simple surface cleaning using specialist handling techniques, recording the objects when moved from store to display and back and updating the MODES database which holds a record of every artefact we have. We use this knowledge to then plan our new displays. We welcome new volunteers who would like to gain experience in all aspects of museum collections work and training will be provided to new volunteers. A recent volunteer, Jamie has shared his experience of working at Metheringham in his blog which you can read HERE. If you would like to see what we do and are considering joining us, then please see more information on how to do that HERE. |
Jamie at work in the Zena Scoley Room.
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The curatorial team at work in the Museum Archive.
Displays such as the Fletcher Display are research driven.
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Accreditation
In 2017 Metheringham Airfield Visitor Centre was awarded the status of "Accredited Museum" by the Arts Council England. This means that we meet specialist standards for caring for all items in the collection and we follow specific policies and have plans and procedures to enable us to maintain and hopefully exceed those standards. The curatorial team are justifiably proud of this achievement. Digitisation One way we can preserve the artefacts for the future is through digitisation. We have a small team of volunteers working onsite to do the physical scanning of items whilst others work remotely completing the metadata input and analysis. A digitisation project was first developed in 2019 in partnership with the University of Lincoln and the International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive. Our first priority was to digitise our photograph albums which contained mostly wartime images of crews, aircraft and Bomber Command airfields. The first phase of that project has been completed and we have a selection of those digitised images on our own website too. You can see our images on the IBCC Digital Archive HERE. Now we have the training and equipment it means we can continue the project over time and digitise other items. Images are taken, and scans are made of the letters, and other artefacts we hold. These images are used mainly for identification purposes but also can be used as a method of preservation for the future and uploading to the Metheringham Collection on the IBCCDA. We would welcome new volunteers who are interested in carrying out digitisation activities both onsite and remotely. Find out more by checking out our volunteering page HERE Research All items in the collection have a story linked to them and often research needs to be done into the object to ensure we describe it correctly when accessioning it and it gives further meaning to the items when placed on display. Additional research is being done by a specialist team of volunteers to learn as much about the operations and sorties the crew of 106 Squadron took part in. Find out more about our research team HERE. |
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Artefacts
Personal effects: Most of the artefacts relate to those who served at RAF Metheringham and with 106 Squadron and 1690 Bomber Defence Training Flight. The objects range from personal letters to official notification letters from the Commanding officer of the squadron, the Station Commander, the Air Ministry and other War Office departments often with the sad news that crews were missing. Pals reunited: These sad stories can be reflected in our displays. Whilst searching for artefacts for the theme of 1945 we came across over 60 items relating to Air Gunner Sgt George Fletcher aged 21. 16 of these items are on display in the Memorial Room (inside the Peter Scoley Hall - former Gymnasium). The display includes photographs, letters and cards as well as official documents. Particularly poignant is the telegram received by his parents informing them that their son was missing in action, later confirmed to have been killed. We have selected items that show his experiences at RAF Metheringham and feel they will not only reflect his and his family’s experience but those of many other families during World War 2 who received similar news as to the fate of their loved ones. As there are quite a few items in the Sgt Fletcher collection and we don't have the space to display them all, we will also be providing a copy of them in a separate folder for visitors to sit and read in the room. It's a poignant display and one that the team has thought particularly carefully about. If you visited last year, you might have seen Flight Engineer Sgt Francis Kendall’s duck mascot and items on display. Well, and this is what volunteering at MAVC is all about for the curatorial team, during our research and thanks to our Research team we discovered that by adding Sgt George Fletcher in the next display with Sgt Kendall that we were reuniting these two young crewmen who sadly lost their lives together in the same aircraft ZN-Y PB122 which crashed on the night of 14th January 1945. Thanks go particularly to volunteers Ann, Beryl and Christine for their thought and dedication in putting these displays together this year. Mascots: Mr Fox – Read about the story of Mr Fox the childhood toy who became a mascot for its owner’s crew. |
Mr Fox
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Ann and Beryl at RAF Cranwell Heritage Centre with MAVC items on loan to the centre.
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Links with other museums
In addition to activities on site MAVC has also loaned two items of uniform to Cranwell Aviation Heritage Museum for their new display of Women in Air Force Blue. A Royal Observer Corps uniform and an RAF Association women’s uniform has been loaned. Volunteers Ann and Beryl kindly went to represent MAVC at the opening ceremony in February 2025. The display will be available for a year until February 2026. Supporting our work If you wish to support our work, then you can become a member or make a one-off donation of funds HERE. All of this helps us to maintain the collection and preserve it for the future. |
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2025 Collections team update
2025 is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two so our focus this year for displays is on 1945. Zena Scoley room
Carey Powell room
Peter Scoley Hall
Memorial Room
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Mr Fox Display 2025
New display cabinets in PSH
This is our Link Trainer in PSH. These were used for instrument flying training.
New displays in the Memorial Room for 2025
Beryl & Ann working in the Memorial Room
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From Mystery to Museum Spotlight!An item that had been donated to our museum was put on display as part of our ‘Groundcrew’ display cabinet in one of the museum rooms last year. However, its identity was questioned by a visitor. As a result, we removed the item from display pending further investigations.
It is important that we ensure we know as much as we can about our objects and that they meet our collections development policy. With this in mind we contacted other museums to ask for help. Curator of artefacts Ed Taylor of the National Museum of the Royal Navy confirmed that the item is not as the visitor thought a (naval ammunition case key). He suggested that we try elsewhere including the Royal Armouries. So we contacted the Royal Armouries in Leeds and the collections team kindly came back to me. Thanks to Joseph Ford, Curatorial Assistant (Firearms), National Firearms Centre at the Royal Armouries, who confirmed that it is a Mills Bomb Base Screw Plug removal tool. Joe kindly gave us more information that helped us to consider if the artefact was suitable for our collection. Grenades were used by the RAF Regiment during World War Two and this tool was used to attach or remove the baseplate and fuse of grenades. A photograph from that IWM shows the RAF regiment using grenades, sadly not using this tool. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205205829 So we can feel justified that this tool is now ideal for our collection and it is now back on display in the ‘Groundcrew’ cabinet located in the Peter Scoley Hall. |
Working in the archive during the closed season.
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2024 Closed season activities
The curatorial team worked hard over the closed season (October 2024 to March 2025) preparing for the new 2025 season. New volunteers have been doing a range of activities including surface cleaning artefacts and learning specific object handling and storage techniques. We have continued with our inventory project checking and updating the locations of items in the museum’s collection including updating the MODES database to record movement and new locations. This makes it much easier to search for items for research and display. Digitisation activities have been going from strength to strength. We have been digitizing the ‘metadata’ previously recorded on paper. This helps us to know more about the scanned images in the collection and make it easier to research information about crews and for displays. Following a successful grant application we received some money from Museum Development Midlands (MDM). This has paid for some specialist racking for our metal store and some new conservation grade clothing covers for some of the uniforms. The grant also covered the cost of professionally conserving 6 items of clothing that need specialist cleaning treatment. The work was carried out by Rebecca Goddard of the University of Lincoln’s conservation department. She kindly provided us with a report as well which details what was done and advice on how we can continue to care for these items. If you are interested in joining our team to help care for the museum’s artefacts, please contact the volunteer coordinator. You can also follow the team’s activities on MAVC’s Facebook and Instagram. |
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Donations of items to the collection
We are interested in developing our collection. However, as space is limited at the moment we are looking for specific categories of items as per our Collections Development Policy. Please see what can be considered for inclusion in the collection. An extract of the policy is here: 3.4 Our collections include books, photographs, uniforms, correspondence, memorabilia, ephemeral objects plus a range of aviation and avionic artefacts and they cover the following themes:
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Barry putting up a display in the Memorial Room.
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Themes and priorities for future collecting
4.1 While the museum will continue to collect items from the above themes, we have identified the following gaps within our collections which we aim to prioritise going forward:
4.2 The museum will not acquire:
4.3 Our collection additions are governed by the generosity of the public donating and by our financial resources available during the financial year.
We ask you not to bring items to the museum but first contact us via the enquiries contact us page. Send us an image(s), full description, its connection with RAF Metheringham or 106 Squadron and anything about its provenance. You can read our full Collections Development Policy below.
4.1 While the museum will continue to collect items from the above themes, we have identified the following gaps within our collections which we aim to prioritise going forward:
- Ground Crew
- WAAF
- Casualty evacuation to RAF Nocton Hall
- Personal stories
4.2 The museum will not acquire:
- Any object containing asbestos. It will require a certificate of removal from a certified asbestos remover if acquiring any object which previously contained asbestos.
- Any object which contains radioactive material or has any parts which have been painted with radioactive paint.
- Any firearms or munitions unless they have been certified as disarmed or Certification Free From Explosives (CFFE).
- Biological or geological material.
- Archaeological material.
- Human remains.
4.3 Our collection additions are governed by the generosity of the public donating and by our financial resources available during the financial year.
We ask you not to bring items to the museum but first contact us via the enquiries contact us page. Send us an image(s), full description, its connection with RAF Metheringham or 106 Squadron and anything about its provenance. You can read our full Collections Development Policy below.
